What does tough mean?
Definitions for tough
tʌftough
Here are all the possible meanings and translations of the word tough.
Princeton's WordNet
street fighter, toughnoun
someone who learned to fight in the streets rather than being formally trained in the sport of boxing
hood, hoodlum, goon, punk, thug, tough, toughie, strong-armernoun
an aggressive and violent young criminal
bully, tough, hooligan, ruffian, roughneck, rowdy, yob, yobo, yobboadjective
a cruel and brutal fellow
toughadjective
not given to gentleness or sentimentality
"a tough character"
rugged, toughadjective
very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution
"a rugged competitive examination"; "the rugged conditions of frontier life"; "the competition was tough"; "it's a tough life"; "it was a tough job"
tough, toughenedadjective
physically toughened
"the tough bottoms of his feet"
sturdy, toughadjective
substantially made or constructed
"sturdy steel shelves"; "sturdy canvas"; "a tough all-weather fabric"; "some plastics are as tough as metal"
ruffianly, toughadjective
violent and lawless
"the more ruffianly element"; "tough street gangs"
bad, toughadjective
feeling physical discomfort or pain (`tough' is occasionally used colloquially for `bad')
"my throat feels bad"; "she felt bad all over"; "he was feeling tough after a restless night"
toughadjective
resistant to cutting or chewing
hard, toughadjective
unfortunate or hard to bear
"had hard luck"; "a tough break"
baffling, elusive, knotty, problematic, problematical, toughadjective
making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe
"a baffling problem"; "I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast"; "a problematic situation at home"
Wiktionary
toughnoun
A person who obtains things by force; a thug or bully.
They were doing fine until they encountered a bunch of toughs from the opposition.
toughverb
To endure.
toughverb
To toughen.
toughadjective
strong and resilient; sturdy
The tent, made of tough canvas, held up to many abuses.
toughadjective
difficult to cut or chew
To soften a tough cut of meat, the recipe suggested simmering it for hours.
toughadjective
rugged or physically hardy
Only a tough species will survive in the desert.
toughadjective
Stubborn.
He had a reputation as a tough negotiator.
toughadjective
harsh or severe
toughadjective
rowdy or rough.
A bunch of the tough boys from the wrong side of the tracks threatened him.
toughadjective
difficult or demanding
This is a tough crowd.
toughadjective
Undergoing plastic deformation before breaking.
Etymology: From toh, from tanhuz.
Webster Dictionary
Tough
having the quality of flexibility without brittleness; yielding to force without breaking; capable of resisting great strain; as, the ligaments of animals are remarkably tough
Tough
not easily broken; able to endure hardship; firm; strong; as, tough sinews
Tough
not easily separated; viscous; clammy; tenacious; as, tough phlegm
Tough
stiff; rigid; not flexible; stubborn; as, a tough bow
Tough
severe; violent; as, a tough storm
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
Tough
tuf, adj. not easily broken: firm: stiff, viscous, sticky: stubborn, hard to manage, trying: violent: tenacious: able to endure hardship.—n. a rough, a bully.—v.t. or v.i. Tough′en, to make or become tough.—adj. Tough′ish, rather tough.—adv. Tough′ly.—n. Tough′ness. [A.S. tóh; cog. with Ger. zähe.]
British National Corpus
Spoken Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'tough' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3162
Written Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'tough' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2971
Adjectives Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'tough' in Adjectives Frequency: #328
Anagrams for tough »
ought
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of tough in Chaldean Numerology is: 7
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of tough in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8
Examples of tough in a Sentence
So we made progress but we have some tough issues to get over.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble:
Without a program, things will be tough for Greece. I wouldn't know how financial markets will handle it without a program -- but maybe he knows better.
However, we will continue to carry out our duties as laid out in the Constitution, including providing advice and consent on nominees, asking tough questions on policy decisions, as well as actions taken at State Department, high level temper tantrums will not stop House Oversight Committee from conducting our oversight responsibilities.
My favorite state has to be Oregon. Its so beautiful, the coast is amazing. We just spent Christmas in Joshua Tree and luckily Santa Claus found Payson there. at first it was hard, Im a clean person and was used to showering at least once a day. It used to stress me out when Payson got dirty but she doesnt need to have a bath every single day, Amy revealed. Shes perfectly healthy and if she is dirty I just wash her down with a warm soapy cloth at night if we arent hooked up to water. Its hard sometimes not to have service everywhere we go. I need to be connected to WIFI for the part time work I do, and if theres no service it can be really tough, she continued. Derek added :.
We are ready for Peru, even if we know that it's going to be a tough game. They are fast and lively, they will have a huge desire to win after losing their first game so it won't be easy.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
Translations for tough
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- صارمArabic
- zähGerman
- τραχύς, σκληρόςGreek
- de mano dura, resistente, severoSpanish
- سفتPersian
- sitkeä, ankara, kovis, vaativa, kova, hankalaFinnish
- dur, difficileFrench
- righinIrish
- fulangach, righinn, tapaidhScottish Gaelic
- rágósHungarian
- duroItalian
- たいへん, 辛い, きついJapanese
- მკაცრი, გამძლე, ხულიგანი, უხეშიGeorgian
- lentaLatin
- taaiDutch
- vanskeligNorwegian
- ګران, سخت, کلکPashto, Pushto
- resistentePortuguese
- трудный, жёсткий, прочный, тяжёлый, тяжкийRussian
- tuffSwedish
- sertTurkish
- 强硬Chinese
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"tough." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2022. Web. 1 Jul 2022. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/tough>.
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